Authorities sought a woman Thursday who carried out an attempted bank robbery in Baldwin Park Thursday, followed by a successful one in Temple City about an hour later.
Both crimes involved strikingly similar suspect descriptions and tactics, and were believed to be the work of the same female robber, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
The first crime took place just before 10 a.m. at Wells Fargo, 14460 Merced Avenue, Baldwin Park police Sgt. Mark Harvey said.
A female robber entered the bank and handed a teller a threatening note which demanded money and alluded to a weapon, the sergeant said. No weapon was seen.
“Something spooked her and she ran out of the bank before obtaining any funds,” Harvey said.
She was last seen running through a parking lot.
Police described her as a black woman wearing a high school-style jacket with a letter “H” on it, a black shirt and jeans.
Just over an hour later, another bank robbery was reported in Temple City, where the robber did obtain an unknown amount of cash in the heist, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Ignacio Somoano said.
The Temple City robbery took place about 11:08 a.m. at the Bank of the West, 9934 Los Tunas Drive, the lieutenant said.
Again, the robber was described as a black woman wearing a high school-style jacket with a letter “H” on it, officials said. She was further described as about 30 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall and 200 pounds.
Eimiller said witnesses also indicated the woman’s hair appeared unusually shiny, as if she was wearing a wig.
Somoano said the robber was last seen fleeing the area in a red car. A further description of the vehicle was unavailable.
The FBI was assisting Baldwin Park police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in the investigations.
FBI agents were looking into the possibility the woman is responsible for other area bank robberies.

SURVEILLANCE PHOTOS from Baldwin Park attempted bank robbery (top) and Temple City Bank robbery (bottom) courtesy of the FBI.